Is the Canva Pro upgrade worth it?

For those that have not heard of Canva before, it is an online graphic tool which allows you to create a variety of artwork using its templates, photos and fonts. I tend to describe it to people as a bit like Photoshop for dummies, but that doesn't mean you are a dummy if you use it! It's accessible for all and easy to use.

It has three versions, Free, Pro and Enterprise (for bigger teams) and I am a Canva Pro user on the annual subscription costing me about £7/8 a month. I have used the free version before but in my view if you are using it fairly often, the upgrade to Canva Pro is worth it when you see what you get for your money. Plus they give you a free 30 day trial so you can spend a month trying it out.

With Canva Pro you get some great additional features including unlimited storage for photos, unlimited team functionality, animated GIFs and access to 400,000 free photos, illustrations, and templates. I particularly like the magic resize function which basically resizes your design to any format and the ability to create brand kits once you have uploaded your own business logo and fonts and selected your brand colours. This saves so much time when creating new designs as all your assets are set up for you to make them on brand and consistent.

A fairly new function is the background remover effect which is great if you have a portrait which you want to use over another graphic. It can be a bit hit or miss whether it takes out everything you want or too much so I sometimes use another background remove tool, but its worth a try. I personally don't use this function that much but I know a lot of people love the ability to download PNG images with transparent backgrounds. These are great if you are desigining logos or creating Instagram highlight covers for example.

Don't get me wrong if your budget is tight and you don't think you can afford the subscription, you will still be able to create graphics using the Free version, you will just miss out on the additional features of Canva Pro.

Some graphic designers think Canva is inferior to Adobe Creative Cloud (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro etc.) but I think there is a place for all. A business owner I know uses both because she grew up with Adobe but thinks Canva is great because the templates give her inspiration and the correct size dimensions are available for everything.

If you are a small business owner and don't have the budget to have an in house design team or pay a graphic designer, or just enjoy being creative yourself, Canva could be your answer. Plus there is an Canva App so you can design on the go. I tend to use the App to download images I've already created or in emergencies as I prefer to design on my desktop.

Don't get me wrong I'm not an affiliate for Canva, I just want more people to know it exists and can be used for free.

If you want to get setup on Canva Pro or are currently using it but would like some 1:1 training to see if you are utilising all its great features, please get in touch.